Dear all,

We have had a busy week, and I will share some highlights at the end of my letter – but first I want to update you on potential upcoming strikes.

As you may be aware, members of the National Education Union (NEU) have voted to take industrial action on the following dates:

• Wednesday 1^st February 2023

• Thursday 2^nd March 2023

• Wednesday 15^th March 2023

• Thursday 16^th March 2023

We are in the process of establishing how many staff will be absent from school on these days, but I want to assure you that we will do everything we can to make sure the school remains open, at least partially, for the pupils who most need it. I will write to you again next week once we are in a position to confirm further details.

I appreciate this will cause some of you significant inconvenience, and I am genuinely sorry for this.

However, I do want to note both that I believe school staff deserve a pay increase at least closer to the inflation rate, and that these should be funded by the government, rather than having to be found in schools’ existing budgets – so I understand why the NEU’s members have voted to act.

As I said, I will be in touch again next week with further updates; for now, please let me reiterate that we will do everything I can to ensure your child’s education does not suffer as a result of this industrial action.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Farmbrough

Headteacher

Highlights from the Week

Last Friday saw the launch of our rowing club, with students heading down to the canal and taking to the water. There are some great pictures on our Instagram so please do check them out.

Year 9 have also been very busy. A number made the trip to Henley Bank last week for a fascinating talk on careers from GCHQ, and we received glowing feedback on their conduct. This week, Year 9 have made a fantastic start to their Rank Order Assessments, hugely impressing our exams team with their mature and sophisticated approach.

We had a very successful Sixth Form Trip to London to see Othello too, and I’m very grateful to Mrs Tomlin and Mr Richie for giving up their time to make this possible.

Finally, this weekend sees a number of our students head up some hills in the Brecon Beacons for Ten Tors navigation training – it’s going to be a chilly weekend for them, but I’m very much looking forward to joining them tomorrow!